How Long Of a Wait For Home Repairs In Asheville - Reasons Why There Are Still Delays
It is March 19th, 173 days since Helene hit Asheville (on Sept 27, 2024) We are currently booked out 4-5 weeks, although we do have someone on hand who can come by and do home repair estimates. Once an estimate is sent by email and approved, we then schedule the home repair.
This may seem like a long time to wait, but in the months following the big storm that hit Asheville, it could be months and months of waiting. Sometimes this wait was complicated by insurance companies delaying on communicating with home owners.
Reasons Why There Are Still Delays
There are other reasons that there are construction delays in Asheville NC as well which include:
A general shortage of reliable and knowledgeable construction workers in Asheville. Although there is a known national shortage of professionals entering trades like construction, Asheville in particular is not a hotspot for skilled home repair and construction experts. Even established local contractors have trouble finding and keeping reliable construction workers in the area. Nearby larger metro areas, like Charlotte or Atlanta compete heavily for high demand workers, and often pay more than smaller cities, so Asheville is left with a smaller labor pool than larger areas with more growth / wage opportunities for laborers.
As looming 2025 tariffs create uncertainties in the construction industry, many may be being a bit more careful in terms of what jobs they take, and waiting in some cases to take on new jobs, at least until the economic conditions are more clear, and pricing is more transparent for generating accurate quotes and estimates. This may also lead some Asheville home construction / repair companies to just do business with clients they have worked with in the past, since there can be huge risks in dealing with new clients, especially when a misunderstanding unfolds around estimates or pricing.
Sometimes there are delays that happen seasonally. For example, a number of home repair jobs require good weather. If it is too rainy, or cold, this can create delays, and then a bottleneck appears around those windows of time when work can actually be done.
Why Waiting Is a Good Sign
Sometimes it is a good sign that a home repair business has a wait list for beginning new projects. It can mean they are a trusted home repair business in Asheville known for high quality work. Poorly rated construction companies may be desperate for business and may be able to start work right away, but it’s only because their bad reputations have limited their ability to get new work. Online reviews are extremely powerful these days, and Asheville NC is a pretty small city after all, with active online communities on reddit and facebook where home owners readily share referrals on who the best construction companies are, along with warnings about which contractors should be avoided.